From the onset of reading these documents, more so of Lincoln’s Address, it would seem without some background and research it tends to leave the reader, especially in that era-1860s, in a quagmire of query. At present we can view both documents side by side along with lengthy summaries to boot in an effort to analyze their subsequent presentations in reference to the nature of the Constitution. I found little valuable support in this rather confined subject matter. This still remains an interesting subject and one that an experienced author could write volumes concerning. I’m guessing we will never know for a certainty exactly what the intent and perspective of the authors were, we can only surmise.
In general, of course, the documents (the S.C. Declaration and Lincoln’s 1st Inaugural Address) differ in the authors’ use of either quoting or referring to the Constitution and other written material. In the case of the S.C.’s Declaration there is a consistent use of historical facts laid in a sequential manner to show the building of continued abuse of “States Rights”. It is obvious the authors took a path that left no way to bypass a secession. The South Carolina document was compose so that even the less educated could understand it’s logic. The authors start off with…
“In the year 1765, that portion of the British Empire embracing Great Britain, undertook to make laws for the government of that portion composed of the thirteen American Colonies. A struggle for the right of self-government ensued, which resulted, on the 4th of July, 1776, in a Declaration , by the Colonies, "that they are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; and t hat, as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do." South Carolina Declaration of Secession Dec. 24, 1860
Right off the proverbial bat the authors of S.C.’s Declaration sets forth a foundation of precedent causes for what they are about to declare or in this case have declared. They continue to use known historical facts to make a sound case for dissolving their association and membership in the Union. Many claims are closely associated with the Constitution or in its debated forms.
They further solemnly declared that whenever any "form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was established, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government." Deeming the Government of Great Britain to have become destructive of these ends, they declared that the Colonies "are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
Here the authors find in the Declaration of Independence a reason for their own withdraw from the Union. Drawing a parallel between tyrannical England prior to the time of the Revolution and the U.S. Government prior to secession was a good choice for how could any deny the mischief of the King’s Court just before the Revolution. Still, this was all known history and deeply felt by those in hunt for a good excuse and a good cause to rebel. I’m sure the southern masses were unaware of the Constitutional legalities of their “Declaration” but it made for good reading and ensured in the people they were well represented and were on the way to victory and glory. It continues….
In pursuance of this Declaration of Independence, each of the thirteen States proceeded to exercise its separate sovereignty; adopted for itself a Constitution, and appointed officers for the administration of government in all its departments--Legislative, Executive and Judicial. For purposes of defense, they united their arms and their counsels; and, in 1778, they entered into a League known as the Articles of Confederation, whereby they agreed to entrust the administration of their external relations to a common agent, known as the Congress of the United States, expressly declaring, in the first Article "that each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right which is not, by this Confederation, expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled."
The authors continue to use the terms, “sovereign, sovereignty, separate as they show the progression of the colonies becoming states and how each state retained its sovereignty and independence and freedoms and powers to conduct business as an independent entity as written in the Declaration Independence and Constitution. As the authors continue in the declaration…
By this Constitution, certain duties were imposed upon the several States, and the exercise of certain of their powers was restrained, which necessarily implied their continued existence as sovereign States. But to remove all doubt, an amendment was added, which declared that the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people. On the 23d May , 1788, South Carolina, by a Convention of her People, passed an Ordinance assenting to this Constitution, and afterwards altered her own Constitution, to conform herself to the obligations she had undertaken.
There is considerable evidence the authors of S.C. Declaration considered, for their purposes, the U.S. Constitution as the law of the land and that they were and had been following it most regularly, even though the government continued to alter itself as well as the many documents that were published. It appears, from the authors points of view, the nature of the Constitution, at this point, was no more than a logical and perfunctory set of rules void of any virtue or spirit. What was next was in how the government may interpret the Constitution and the delegating of powers.
In particular the Constitution says; what power that is not delegated to the government nor prohibited to the states is reserved to the states or to the people. This became the main and most logical rout to take, the next supporting paragraphs say….
“Thus was established, by compact between the States, a Government with definite objects and powers, limited to the express words of the grant. This limitation left the whole remaining mass of power subject to the clause reserving it to the States or to the people, and rendered unnecessary any specification of reserved rights.”
“We hold that the Government thus established is subject to the two great principles asserted in the Declaration of Independence; and we hold further, that the mode of its formation subjects it to a third fundamental principle, namely: the law of compact. We maintain that in every compact between two or more parties, the obligation is mutual; that the failure of one of the contracting parties to perform a material part of the agreement, entirely releases the obligation of the other; and that where no arbiter is provided, each party is remitted to his own judgment to determine the fact of failure, with all its consequences.”
“…. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the Acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them. …”
“… even the right of transit for a slave has been denied by her tribunals; and the States of Ohio and Iowa have refused to surrender to justice fugitives charged with murder, and with inciting servile insurrection in the State of Virginia. Thus the constituted compact has been deliberately broken and disregarded by the non-slaveholding States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obligation.” (as a member of the Union)
Using the phrase “the law of compact” stirs up basics in what makes good society and goes to the very foundation of what makes a government work. And in addition they add the line, “with all its consequences” a foreboding prediction of things to come.
At this point (Dec. 24th 1860) there is no individual, group, organization or government that can stop what has happened. The document had so covered all and every aspect of why things must proceed in the direction their headed that all escape hatches were closed and locked. War had to be engaged. To regain freedom for the enslaved and extinguish slavery America would have to bloody its land.
The South had been in the minority for some time now and so going through congress to change constitutional laws by enactments, as the Constitution had provided for, would have been slow, arduous and painfully unsuccessful. There was no place left to go it was either secession or a complete change of life style and economics. Now, perhaps the government would have taken some measures to lessen the pain so that a gradual change could have taken place over say twenty years or so. I speculate this would have been a Petri dish for corruption. Literal black markets would have sprung up, forged documents abounding everywhere, payoffs, claims, suits and conspiracies would be the soup of the day. And the Blacks may have been held back for another 40-50 additional years.
The time had come and gone. 1808 was better than 60 years past, congress and others had looked the other way for decades to maintain votes from the southern states for special interest and now it was time to face the music and all the while the southern states becoming economically deeper entrenched in the institution of slavery.
Lincoln, of course, aware of this situation receiving the “vacating notice” more than two month before his Inaugural Address had had time to absorb and internalize its content and hopefully prepare a reasonable respond. He was placed into a predicament no other president had faced and none scenes. A whole section of the United States had bolted from the Union and he must react fairly but with resolve. He had been preparing all his life for this moment.
In his talk he must placate the north and be inviting to the south. He must be firm for his supporters and yet rise above war and all the unmentionable tragedies that follow. How could he use the Constitution against the thesis that the authors of the S.C. Secession Declaration produced? How would Lincoln paint his thoughts on the nature of the Constitution in his effort to avoid war? He starts by saying…
“Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that—I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.”
There was no ”seems to exist” about it. It (apprehension) absolutely did exist and he had the document (S.C.’s Declaration) to prove it. I feel at this place in the Address Lincoln is having a “read my lips” moment saying “I have no purpose…I believe I have no lawful right…I have no inclination to do so”. Furthermore he specifies directly the “institution of slavery” in his words. Your property (slaves) will not be taken away from you, he told them; this had concerned them should he win the election. At this time, at least, he had no intention of abolishing slavery and this was shown in this speech. This had to be an effort to down play the seriousness of the moment. There was no profit in having both the north and the south filled with anxiety about what he might do next. Reducing fear was job one in his hope for buying some time. He continues…
“Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.”
“States’ Rights” becomes a tennis ball on the court of the Constitution between Lincoln and South Carolina. Who then was living by its laws and precepts and who was not. Lincoln was careful to name no names but went on appealing to those who’s desire was to preserve the Union as much as his did. "The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict, without yourselves the aggressors." Lincoln was a lawyer and a good one. He positioned himself brilliantly so as in the event an outbreak occurred he would be seen as the protector and the south as the violator. Lincoln continues to use the Constitution to caution and to appeal to good judgment and logic. He further says…
“I take the official oath to-day with no mental reservations and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules; and while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed than to violate any of them trusting to find impunity in having them held to be unconstitutional.”
Lincoln, I feel, sees the nature of the Constitution as more than a cold stone tablet of laws. He sees it through the mind of a lawyer having flexibility as well as absolutes. He uses it in contrasts, appeal, coxing, and stealthful threats. Later in the Address he issues…
“I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our National Constitution, and the Union will endure forever, it being impossible to destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself.”
Lincoln continues on his use of the Constitution where and when his needs demand. In his reference to the Constitution he calls indirectly for rallying around its universal laws and provisions. Lincoln states….
“It follows from these views that no State upon its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void, and that acts of violence within any State or States against the authority of the United States are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances.”
I therefore consider that in view of the Constitution and the laws the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part, and I shall perform it so far as practicable unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means or in some authoritative manner direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself.”
This becomes Lincoln’s bottom line; a place where the “greenback” stops. Lincoln had defended his position quite well and if war was to begin ”let it begin with the south.” In fortifying his position Lincoln had told some white lies about black people. He was aware that some of the provisions of the Constitution had been violated for this had been going on for years. Yet he avowed that to his knowledge all were alive and well in the Constitution. This was a desperate attempt to alleviate causes for a glory bound over confident south to break ranks with the Union and go into full rebellion. He was brash at times but knew he had a winning hand; the majority was on his side.
Lincoln’s use of the Constitution tells much about Lincoln’s thoughts on its nature. He uses it as though it was his carbine, pistol, and Bowie Knife. Yet in other instances it becomes his shield and a shelter for America. I’m sure Lincoln felt the nature of the Constitution was God inspired and if it needed changing there were mechanisms within the document created for those very events. Even though Lincoln stretched things here and there to alleviate building pressures he was the right man for the job as history has proven.
As far as the documents themselves display, I would say the “South Carolina’s Declaration of the Causes of Secession” was better in terms of historical facts. Simply it became a history book of abuses (if we exclude slavery as an abuse) the south had endured even before the Constitution had been ratified. It was put together quite succinctly and symmetrically by listing times and dates of abuses and changes along with outcomes. By using the Constitution coming and going the document painted the south into the proverbial corner. It took a positive position as a defense for its actions and never looked back.
On the Other hand Lincoln’s Address was on the defense from the start and was conforming to the S.C.’s Declaration and its list of grievances. Its tempo would change leaving one to wave his or her flag or simply wonder what it meant. Lincoln was brilliant in his positioning and responses to claims. Lincoln was brilliant but he was at a disadvantage and by using his idea of the nature of the Constitution he made the very most of a horrid situation.
The documents have given us a treasure of historical facts and understanding of the South’s strong desire to break from the Union. This was pointed out in the historical list of abuses laid out in the South’s document. We see that the south’s pursuit of happiness was their property, which was, owning slaves. The slave gave them an opportunity to make tons of money; their happiness. We certainly know that the slavery problem had been boiling ever since the first slaves were brought to American shores in the early 1600s. You don’t have to be a history professor to understand that this couldn’t last forever.
I’m wondering if they(the south) could have seen that over 600,000 of their countrymen laying in the fields across America and all the tragedies that were associated with those deaths would the south’s dilemma have changed?
In Lincoln’s address its greatest value lies in the expression of Lincoln’s thoughts. What a situation this must have represented to the most humblest of men such as he. How he thought came from his frame of reference as a self make man. Perhaps even his reliance on Devine guidance. Only bloodshed can bring back lost freedom to a free land.
Resources: South Carolina’s Declaration of the Causes of Secession Dec. 24th Abraham Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address
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